Shock
by Totally-Out-Of-It
Summary: slash Daviffin When David is captured by paladins, it's up to Griffin to save him. But why would he do that? 'Kiss me, Griffin.' The only thing standing between Griffin and David having a relationship was Griffin's own insecurities.
1. The Trap

Note: This story is set to be a 3-shot, that means 3 chapters. Enjoy.

Chapter 1 - The Trap

Part I - David

David strolled through the park, jacket blown back a bit by the wind. The bright beaming sun shown in his eyes, and he raised a hand to block it. With his eyes clear, David stopped and looked around him. Children playing, people running down the nearby street with surfboards in their hands, women walking their dogs. Yep.

California.

He'd been here for all of two days. Last week, he'd been holed up in Griffin's new lair, hanging out with the British jumper and playing video games. It was a relaxing break from being chased. Griffin wasn't as opposed to David coming to the lair nowadays. Now that David understood what was going on, he didn't really barge in and ruin Griffin's day anymore. He would just pop in and say hi, hang out, maybe bring a pizza. Griffin's favorite thing David brought was ice cream and cake. Apparently, he didn't think much of the two foods and hardly ever ate them.

David never told Griffin he'd only brought them because it was his birthday. Griffin hadn't wished him happy birthday, but he hadn't expected him to either. He didn't need to be congratulated. He was entertained enough that day by Griffin's face while he tried the food and Griffin's cursing when he got a brain freeze. David had laughed the whole time, which only pissed Griffin off more.

But about a week ago, Griffin decided it was time to go find another paladin, so he followed one of his leads to China. One of Griffin's rules was that David couldn't live in the lair when he wasn't there. So that's when David hopped off to New York. He checked out some things nearby, meandered at the empire state building, and basically hung out for a couple of days. He'd been hit on, but David knew better than to get attracted to any of the girls he met.

After Millie ran off on him, he'd strayed away from forming too many attachments. At first, he'd been appalled. He was turning into Griffin! But as it continued, and he stayed with his English friend more and more, David decided being like Griffin wouldn't be so bad.

He got bored with New York after that and popped on over to sunny California. So we're up to speed. David continued through the park until he got to the busy main street. He wondered why he'd chosen to come here of all places after New York. Perhaps because it was so sunny. New York was rather dismal and rainy these days. Although, now that he thought of it, he wondered why he hadn't gone back to check the lair between cities. Griffin could be back by now. And even if he wasn't, why hadn't David gone to China with him?

They both hunted paladins now. Why had David let Griffin go alone? He couldn't remember why he'd chosen not to accompany Griffin, so he tried to focus on something else. When should he try the lair again? Tomorrow? That would mean Griffin had enough time to go searching for his paladin and either capture them or kill them. That was enough time, wasn't it?

Something pressed into David's back. He recognized the shape and closed his eyes as he mentally scolded himself for letting his guard down.

"Don't try to run. It's useless," a female voice warned.

"Oh uh.. Yeah? Why should I run? Am I under arrest?" David asked, acting as though he didn't know why she was here.

"Don't play dumb, jumper. It didn't help your friend, and it wont help you," she said, pressing the end of her electricity rod into David's back just a bit. She hadn't activated it yet.

"My friend? What do you mean?" David asked. She tilted her head to the side, but he couldn't tell what she was doing. She was behind him, after all. By 'friend' did she mean Griffin?

"The one over in China. I know you know who I'm talking about," she explained, her voice growing annoyed.

"What did you do to him?" David asked, his voice gaining a threatening edge to it. Had they finally caught Griffin? Was he alright?

"He's in our custody. Someone who's caused us so much trouble, well..., he'll probably get a special punishment," she almost sounded joyful at the prospect. David grit his teeth. She had to be lying.

David took off running. A few steps later, he jumped fifty feet forward. He heard the crunch of the sidewalk as the electric baton connected with it instead of with David. Few people paid enough mind to notice his teleportation or her odd weapon defacing city property. David ran down a side street. He didn't want to involve other people, and he didn't want them to know where his jumpscar would be.

As soon as he figured he was clear, David jumped back to Griffin's base. He skidded a little as he stopped running. The air caused by his jump ruffled some papers. Looking around, this looked just like Griffin's old base, only with more defined walls and more space. Still, everything was exactly the same as when David had left. Griffin hadn't come back for papers or pictures or... weapons. Nothing was different. If Griffin got in trouble, wouldn't he have grabbed a weapon or two and then gone back to beat them up before they followed him?

"Griffin?!" David called out. Nothing. He hadn't expected a response. If Griffin had been captured, David had to save him! But how? He wasn't as good as Griffin when it came to tracking people down, and he had no idea where any paladin bases were. Where would they take a captured jumper?

David made a hard decision and jumped right back to California. He would capture that woman and make her tell him what she knew. When he reappeared in the alley, the woman was there. Three men flanked her, and all of them looked surprised. They probably hadn't expected him to come back. David glanced down and saw the men were setting up a black box. That was the machine that could enable normal people to teleport through jumpscars!

They'd find Griffin's lair!

If Griffin was a goner, it wouldn't matter, but David still had a belief that Griffin was probably fine... He had to be. Griffin wasn't the kind of guy to get caught, even by a whole herd of paladins. And anyway, caught or not, David wasn't going to let them destroy another one of Griffin's lairs because of him.

Before any of the paladins could move, David began to jump. He appeared all around them, making an erratic circle of a pattern. It was honestly making him a little dizzy, but he could handle it. If there were too many jumpscars in the area, that machine would be useless. The faces of his enemies kept flashing around them to every point he appeared at. David was pleased with their reactions. He stopped jumping and just smirked.

"Having a little trouble there?" he asked. The woman glared at him. Suddenly, David felt a shock run through his body. What?

Somehow, a fifth paladin had snuck up behind him and caught him in the back with a electric rod. David grit his teeth and felt his limbs go limp. He struggled to regain control of them as fast as possible while the woman walked up to him. She pulled something out of her pocket and jabbed it in his arm. David flinched on reflex and swung at her. Her needle came out of his arm, but it had already done its job. The vial was empty. David felt like spaghetti. He tried hard to keep himself up, but it was no use. He bent over on the ground and finally fell down altogether.

"Wh-what did you... do to me?" His words were slow and heavy. The woman smiled at him.

"Don't worry, cutie. It's not poisonous," she seemed to tease him. Then David's vision became black. In a matter of moments, a blindfold had been put around his eyes and he almost immediately fell in his drug induced sleep.

"Load him in the van. Quickly! The other one could show up any minute!" the woman ordered harshly.

Part II - Griffin

Griffin strolled through the streets of a small Chinese city. He was following a paladin. He had been doing this same thing for the last two days. He'd been away from home for about a week. The first two days away from home, he was actually chillin, waiting for his prey to show up. He hit a bar or two, which didn't go so well. He didn't know Chinese as well as he should and argued incessantly with a woman about wanting a beer, not noodles. Of course, she didn't understand, so he had to act the whole damn thing out until she realized he wanted a drink. Then she brought out her fricken lame ass sake shit which Griffin had tried before and didn't like as much as the sake he could get at the bar down the way so he argued with her some more until she finally brought out the beer. Sweet Jesus!

The next two days in China were boring. Griffin spent his time trying on funny masks and scaring children by walking around in public while wearing the mask and randomly teleporting all over the place. When he tried to get a second mask, however, the store clerk caught him and accused him of stealing while smacking him upside the head and chasing him from the store. Bitchy ass Chinese woman.

Women! God!

First the beer and now the masks. How was he supposed to have a good time?

Then he spotted his target. The paladin didn't seem to notice him on that fifth day. Griffin managed to follow the guy rather well without even jumping. At first, he thought this was too easy. Suddenly, he noticed four other paladins he recognized, all spread out among the crowd. How had they known he would be here? Was it because of his tricks on the kids the day before? He hadn't expected so many.

As Griffin began to back out of a potentially dangerous situation, he was surprised by his thought pattern. He was faced with five paladins, and he was thinking about David showing up at the lair with pizza. How stupid could it get? Griffin really needed to get a hold of himself. As soon as he was out of sight of the paladins, he jumped back to the lair. He half expected to see David there and was slightly disappointed when he didn't.

Silly, Griffin rationalized. His mind kept jumping back and forth on subjects. If the paladins had been there for him, they would have attacked instead of letting him go. They hadn't even looked up to acknowledge he was there. They must be tracking a different jumper. Yeah. That's right.

David hadn't come to China looking for Griffin, had he? Cause he was just the kind of person who could attract five paladins to China just by thinking about going there for a visit. Suddenly a little worried for the jumper in potential danger, Griffin jumped right on back to where he had been moments before.

Griffin checked around the corner and saw the paladins had not moved. Yep. They definitely hadn't been after him. Griffin gauged the possibility of using any of the roofs as a position to keep tabs on them. The one he'd been following was sitting down now. Two were sitting together, one of them being the man Griffin had been following. Across the road from them were the other three, not sitting together and not looking at one another. If they were trying to pass off as regular people, they were failing. Although, no one else seemed to find them suspicious.

Griffin spotted a good spot to hide while he watched and jumped. He appeared on top of a sturdy looking store, hidden behind their sign, which was in the shape of a square and the perfect size for our favorite British jumper. Griffin peeked out and counted the paladins again. Yep. All five were there.

A woman screamed in shock down the road and Griffin's attention snapped to her. When he looked, however, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. She was standing by a stand that had just fallen over. It must be hers because she was running around trying to grab the fruit that was now pouring into the road. Silly people and their -... wait a moment.

Griffin analyzed the scene a bit closer. Her stand didn't just fall over. It was smashed on one side. He hadn't heard anything connect with it though. Had it happened while she was screaming? Griffin flipped his attention to the side where a guy was standing and shaking his foot as if to get some mud off of it. But the stuff on his shoe was red, like the inside of the woman's fruit.

A jumper.

He'd misfired and landed on the shop. Idiot. Griffin looked quickly back at the paladins. They all seemed tenser, if that was possible. They had their hands in their pockets, probably on some of their new toys. Bloody bastards. Yet they weren't moving in. Why? Griffin glanced back to the poor jumper. Instantly, he scrambled to hide himself even more. He almost didn't want to look out.

Roland.

What was that bastard doing here? A scar on Griffin's back tingled, and he smashed it under his hand until it stopped. Roland was walking down the road without attracting much attention at all. How did he manage that? He just reeked 'creepy', didn't he? Didn't his appearance say 'dangerous' all over the place?

Griffin felt his insides bubble with anger. He wanted to attack, but there were five other ones sitting not thirty feet away. Griffin could take on paladins, no problem. But this was different. This was Roland and five well trained paladins. Griffin knew them all by face. They all probably knew his face too. There was no way Griffin could take them all alone.

A happy thought was that they were after this random reckless jumper and not David. That trouble maker was safe for another day. The five paladins sitting at the shops all stood up at once, catching a few fleeting glances from other patrons. They began to walk toward the jumper. Roland backed out of the jumper's sight.

When he noticed he was being stalked, the young male jumped again, further down the street. He was moving further and further toward Roland. Griffin grit his teeth. It may not be David, but it was still a fellow jumper, and he couldn't just sit here and watch them hunt one of his own kind.

Griffin jumped to a side path between two shops, just in front of where Roland was waiting. As the jumper ran his way, he whistled. He successfully caught the guy's attention. He waved and motioned his head. Griffin didn't know why he thought this random jumper would trust a stranger when they was being chased by paladins, but they did.

Griffin took off down the path, followed by the jumper, who had been smart enough to jump into the path instead of just running into it. He may have shocked a few people, but the paladins may be temporarily unsure of where he went. Griffin led the other jumper to the end of the path and then turned left. There he jumped. The man following him ran right into his jumpscar by surprise. They both appeared outside the city. The other male fell down on his face while he tripped over a root in this slightly forested area.

"Oh yeh. Watch your step there, friend," Griffin warned too late. He knew he'd been too late, but he said it anyway.

"Thanks for helping me out," the older male coughed as he stood. "But why did you help in the first place? Those men might come after you now."

"I can handle mehself. You looked a bit unstable, though, and I can' rightly leave a fellow jumper to fight for his life, now can I?" Griffin asked, though it was rather rhetorical.

"Well... Thank you," the stranger said and cracked a huge smile of pearly whites. David's looked better. He had that whole... _canine _look to him when he smiled.

"Yep. Now ya betta jump on out of here if you know what's good for ya," Griffin warned, almost as if he were threatening the new jumper too.

"Right," was the response and the new jumper left. Now he was old news.

Griffin jumped back to his spot behind the sign to check up on the paladins. They had scattered, not wanting to alarm the locals. Two had headed down the path Griffin had taken. The others were spreading out through the city in the general direction the jumper had been going. Roland... Roland was on the phone. He smiled. No. That was more of a smirk, a deadly smirk that meant something good happened for him and meant someone else had died.

Roland hung up his phone and glanced over the area. Griffin almost swore Roland saw him, but the big black man just kept looking around. Then he sauntered off. What bugged Griffin the most about this seemingly innocent leave was that Roland was going off in a completely random direction out of town. He was also going out completely alone. Griffin just couldn't pass up this chance.

Griffin watched Roland for a moment and then jumped half the distance between them. He had to wait till Roland was completely alone. If they others came to his aid, Griffin was doomed. He wanted to take this bastard out once and for all, no interruptions. Griffin followed Roland on foot as far as he could. However, Roland turned a corner and Griffin lost him. How? Roland couldn't jump.

Something collided with his back and sent Griffin into the nearest wall. His head connected with the wall with a sickening thud, and he fell on the ground. However, Griffin wasn't out for the count. Not by a long shot. He'd been doing this too long to be out now. The British male jumped right back up and turned to his opponent.

Roland was there. Why hadn't he used some electrical gizmo instead of throwing him into a wall - something he would know Griffin could survive. On that note, why hadn't he just stabbed Griffin in the back?

"I thought I recognized you," Roland murmured in distaste. Griffin quickly wiped his confused look off his face and replaced it with anger.

"Wha's wrong? Why didn you just stab me like usual?" Griffin growled.

"Don't temp me, Jumper. Against my better judgement, I'm not here to kill you," Roland replied. He pulled out a pocket knife, not his normal dagger, and began to clean under his nails with it.

"You think I'm stupid or somethin?" Griffin asked. "There's no way a guy like you would eva let someone like me go withou a fight."

"Orders are orders, boy," Roland replied darkly, glaring at Griffin and stopping with his nails. "My only job concerning you is no longer necessary."

"What job?" Griffin asked, still on guard. He'd backed up a whole foot. Had Roland noticed?

"We came to China to find _you_. A new branch has been opened up - research. We need test subjects of the jumper kind-," and Roland was cut off.

"I ain't your guinea pig!" Griffin shouted. That was bullshit anyway. They already had a research department. Did Roland think he was stupid? Roland gave Griffin a cold and steady stare but did not move.

"You've been running from us for a long time. You seemed like a good choice for the experiments. However, you're no longer needed. We found our subject... in California," Roland said it as though it should mean something to Griffin. Griffin shrugged and shook his head.

"Poor bastard. Have fun with that. I'm outta here," Griffin decided. Roland had a knife out in such a way that he could probably stab Griffin no matter how the jumper attacked him. He couldn't afford to get stabbed and not be sure Roland wouldn't die too. He had to get back to the new lair in one piece.

Why? For a silly reason. If Griffin didn't at least get back to the lair, David would be left wondering where he'd gone. If he DID get stabbed, he wanted Roland dead, and he better be able to make the jump home. David would at least have a body and know what happened. Heh. See? Stupid reason not to attack. This was why Griffin didn't like making connections with people.

"You don't care about the jumper we caught? I thought he was your accomplice... but I suppose Jumpers really don't have 'friends', do they?" Roland's question wasn't really meant to be answered. It was more of an accusation. Griffin glared.

"What are you talkin about?" he barked. He couldn't mean David, right? Roland smirked.

"David Rice. He was just captured in California to be used in electrical testing. Poor bastard... yes?" Roland spoke using Griffin's words. Griffin grit his teeth.

"Where are you takin him?" Griffin asked, trying not to show how upset he was about David's capture. He doubted Roland would even tell him where David was. Griffin would find out somehow, though. Still, no one could know Griffin had bonded with something... some_one_.

"Florida," Roland replied. "He's in an automated factory building that's undercover as an orange factory. Understand, I'm only telling you this because you'll never find it, and even if you did, you'd never go there... because you're jumpers. You don't have the desire... the _ability _to care that much about someone to risk you own neck to save them."

Griffin was gone before Roland's sentence finished. He didn't go back to the lair. He didn't go to Florida. Griffin went to California. David had shown him his favorite jump spot in California a while back, so Griffin was checking it before deciding David was actually in trouble.

He saw the beach down the road, the park off to the side. David liked to come to this spot because of the awesome waves, or so he said. They'd gone surfing when they came here together a couple months back. David was better than Griffin, but still not very good. Heh. They didn't do a lot of things together like that, so it had been a rather special occasion.

Griffin strolled down the road quickly until he nearly tripped in a hole. Cursing, he looked at what he'd tripped in, ready to kick it or something. That's when he noticed it was no ordinary hole. That was a dent in the sidewalk. What could drop hard enough in the middle of the sidewalk to cause this?

Griffin nudges a piece of broken cement with his foot and it sparked with a last bit of hidden electricity. This was made recently... by a paladin weapon. Griffin was surprised they would use it in the open like this. Still, that meant a paladin had definitely been here, in David's favorite part of California. Griffin glanced around him and smirked. He knew it. The young jumper stepped forward into the very last remnant of a jumpscar.

He found himself several feet down the sidewalk. Griffin looked around again for another jumpscar. He looked to his right and his eyes widened. Talk about jumpscar heaven. He spotted a whole cluster of them peeking out from a second turn off. Griffin rushed over, jumping in the first one. He appeared four steps to his left.

What the hell?

Griffin narrowed his eyes and began to step into random jumpscars all over the area. What had David done - jump in a circle? Why the hell would he do that?! Then Griffin found himself back at his lair. He looked around quickly to make sure that was really his location.

"David?!" he called out.

Some of Griffin's papers were on the floor, but that was probably caused by jumping. He ignored it and looked around the place as quickly as he could. David didn't seem to be around. Griffin jumped back to the alleyway via David's jumpscar again and cursed. Where had he gone? All these other funny jump scars led to nowhere!

Off by the street, he heard large car doors slam shut and a van roared into life. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he decided the street was the next best guess. When he got to the street, he watched the loud van drive off into the busy streets of California with little thought to where it was going.

Griffin didn't see anymore jump scars anywhere down the street. He cursed and kicked the building on his left. His foot snagged on something on the way and sent it flying into the air. It was some dinky old jacket by the looks of it. Griffin caught it in the face when it came back down. With an angry grunt, he pulled it off. He almost went to rip it in half when he recognized it.

This was David's.

Dammit! Those bastard paladins probably left it behind to taunt him! David had definitely been here. He was the only other jumper who knew about the lair and now his jacket was lying on the ground right next to where that funky colored yellow and orange van had been parked.

"Ah shit!" Griffin cursed, balling up the jacket and throwing it to the ground. He stomped on it a few times and kicked at the wall again. This time he hurt his toes and fell back into the wall on the other side.

David had probably been in that stupid van the whole time! And what!? Griffin had just let it drive away!

"Shit shit shit! God dammit!" Griffin continued cursing as he grabbed the jacket and jumped back to the lair. He tossed the jacket on the nearest chair and went to his computer. No choice now but to find the factory where they were taking him. He typed in a few things, surfing the internet like some hacker genius. Then, while his computer searched, Griffin glanced over his shoulder at David's jacket.

With a sigh, Griffin stood up from the computer. He walked slowly over to the jacket and picked it up. He shook it out, a few layers of dirt just flying off of it, and set it over the back of the chair. Griffin stepped back to see how that looked and seemed to find it acceptable. He returned to his computer and began the tedious job of finding the paladin lair among all the actual factories in Florida.

Stupid Florida.


	2. The Rescue

Chapter 2 - The Rescue

Part I - David

Everything was dark. He heard voices, muffled as though he had cotton in his ears. As he lay there, wherever there was, he found his senses returning. He could feel his whole body gently vibrating. He seemed to be laying on something large and cold, the source of the vibration. As his senses continued to return, he could hear the deep voices of two men conversing. He heard a woman yelling at the end of the hall. Still, she was so far away that he couldn't figure out what she was saying. The men nearby were conversing quickly to each other. He only caught a few words.

"-can't believe they used the whole vial," and "electric charge tests prepped and ready" were some of the things he caught. Most of the rest seemed like scientific mumbo jumbo he didn't understand even with his mind fully operating.

With his hearing back, he could discern the sound of squeaking wheels and the low rumble of metal shaking. The rumble went along with the vibrations. Suddenly, what he was laying on bounced, the wheels momentarily stopped squeaking, and the rumble seemed to lurch. Oh. He must be laying on a metal table of some sort. They were pulling him somewhere which would explain why everything was vibrating dully.

"Seems he's coming back to his senses," one of the voices above him commented. He tried to open his eyes but found only a black abyss greeting him. He could feel a light pressure around his head. He was blindfolded, and damn well at that.

"David? Can you hear me?" someone asked. He couldn't find his voice. "A grunt or a nod will do." He pressed his lips together and managed to both grunt and give a sharp nod. "Good."

A door closed. He opened his mouth and took in deep breaths as he tried to get control over his voice. The events of his capture returned to him. The paladins, the electricity, the serum... and Griffin! He began to struggle a little. He pulled his arms up only to find they were bound. The same happened with his legs. He grunted.

"Calm down now, David. You'll only hurt yourself," the same familiar voice said. Or... it was becoming familiar now. He'd never heard it before in his life, he was sure. He tried to speak.

"Gr-...," and he coughed. That seemed to help. "Griffin... Griffin isn't... He's not here, is he?"

"Hm," the voice seemed displeased. "No. No he's not. You're going to feel a little pressure. Think nothing of it."

A little was a lie. David felt like he was being squeezed between two sumo wrestlers. His face contorted in discomfort. Then, almost as soon as it had began, the pressure lifted. Now he felt only a small push against each of his arms. David found his breathing was slightly panted.

"Wh-what was that?" he croaked out. He heard a 'heh' from his side.

"That was a frequency test. There are cables attached to your examination table. Very soon, electricity will be pumped through these cables, through the metallic table, and into your body. The idea is to gauge just how much electricity a jumper can handle. If you're lucky, we'll discover your tolerance very soon and you'll be dead without much torture. I doubt it though," the voice sounded pleased at the idea. A door creaked open.

"Roland just landed. Hurry up. _He'll _be here any moment," a rough voice warned.

"Right. Well, good luck to you, David. I do hope the tests go well for you," the first man said. It was a good natured tone, but the torment it promised was far from kind. David felt himself tense. He tried to look around the blindfold at the man, but he couldn't even find light. The blindfold was thick and wide, cutting off all his possible peeking spots. His heart rate sped up. He could hear the accompanying beep of a machine in another room - faint but still there.

"Calm down, David. We can't have you suffering a heart attack now," the same pleased voice warned.

"Let me go. I haven't hurt anybody! Ask Roland!" He half pleaded. He wasn't nearly as whiny as he used to be, but the prospect of being electrocuted until death was not a pleasant one. And Griffin! Would the other jumper become suspicious when he didn't come back to the lair? Would he come to the conclusion that the paladins had captured him? If he did, would he care or would he think 'poor bastard' and get on with his life? That was a very Griffin like thing to do.

"That's not the point, David. This is a punishment for you having a power you shouldn't have. It's also a punishment for that stupid woman you call mother. Now hush or I'll electrocute you right now," the voice threatened.

David bit his lip to keep himself from arguing. He was doomed. That's all there was to it. Griffin would return home and play video games and have to get his own pizza. He'd complain about how David was an idiot and how he had to do everything himself again. Then, sooner rather than later, Griffin would get over it and move on with life. David forced himself not to tear up. He had to be strong, especially with the promise of electrical tests running through his body.

He heard the door shut as both men left. His heart rate sped up again.

Dammit.

David could hear the electricity running through some sort of wire, waiting to be released. He tested his bonds again. Still impossible to move. David groaned. He heard the electricity crackle and bit his lip. Now, more than ever, he just wanted to hide out in the lair and wait for Griffin to come home. How could he even let himself be tricked into this anyway? Griffin would have scolded him immensely if he knew.

Part II - Griffin

Griffin was torn between jumping for joy and grinning silently like the evil mastermind that he was. This left him somewhere in between, where he ended up half jumping from his seat. This made him act more like he was leaning back too far in his chair, and had him falling over onto the floor as an end result. Griffin couldn't even bring himself to curse the ground and the chair. He was too excited.

David was possibly in life threatening peril, which had Griffin worrying excessively. Roland showed he could track Griffin easily when he wanted to, which should have Griffin's full attention but failed to grasp the jumper's interest. Griffin was caring about someone so completely that he should be afraid for his sanity, and yet that didn't bother him nearly as much as it should. If all of these horrible and frightful things were happening, why was Griffin ready to let loose all abandon and cheer like a child? Why was he feeling so happy and smug in this moment of time where he should feel antsy and twitchy?

He'd found it.

That's why. Griffin, in all his amazingness, had managed to shift through all the factories for oranges in Florida, and trust me... that's a lot of factories, to find the only ones run completely by machines. That was only about two, but Griffin couldn't remember exact statistics, because his entire mind set was on getting to his final result. After eliminating so many factories, Griffin then used all his savy knowledge on paladins and cross referenced it with the description of the factories. Yes. There was no doubt in his mind. This was the factory where they were keeping David.

David. Griffin let his mind get sidetracked while he hurried to grab a few concealed weapons. If all went well, he wouldn't have much use for them. If things went perfectly, he wouldn't use them at all. But if things went bad, as they often did when David and Paladins were involved, then he'd get quite a use out of them... and several men would be dead. David may scold him for it, but it might be necessary.

So, on that side tracked thought, Griffin remembered why he was doing this in the first place. If this was back when he'd first met David, he may have just sighed and shrugged off this whole experience. Yes. Griffin would have done exactly as Roland expected him too. He'd have snickered, maybe even laughed, at David's poor luck and forgotten all about the foolish American.

Now was different. Griffin was a changed man. Nothing was the same anymore. You couldn't stay the same after becoming a jumper, and you couldn't stay the same after living with David. It had taken a lot of arguments, a lot of buttering up, and a lot of patience. In fact, Griffin didn't know how or why David had put so much effort into being friends and allies. Griffin would kick him out. David would sleep right outside. Griffin would pitch a fit. David brought him a new video game, or pizza... or both. Griffin would try to avoid him. David either followed him like the first time or waited quietly back at the lair - watching a movie or drawing circles in the dirt. And every time Griffin came home -...

Ah. Griffin paused all movement. He felt funny. He found himself feeling like this a lot whenever he thought of David. The strangest feeling would start. There was a warmth that seemed to sprout from more than just one area. In almost no time at all, Griffin's stomach would contract and his chest would burn. At first, he'd thought it was illness. He'd even dared to go to a doctor, but he was healthy. Then he started feeling the warmth sprout from somewhere in his hands as well. It would grow and spread till it covered his palms, stretching down to his fingertips. That was the oddest tingling feeling. Yes. It was odd, but Griffin had come to expect the warmth and now was quite used to it. He was sure this memory had been the cause of it...

For whenever Griffin would reappear in the lair or walk in and find David waiting, David would lift his head from the ground or the tv. He'd lock gazes with Griffin, and then the most dazzling smile would break over David's features. It was absolutely shocking. More than once, in the beginning, Griffin had been so startled by the look that he'd actually started yelling about it and tried telling David to stop doing it. In the end, he was glad David hadn't listened to him.

Griffin looked at his computer screen and smirked. There was no way he could go back to before that smile. It would be literal hell. If he appeared at the factory and found David dead, that would be the end of it. Griffin would kill everyone there, or as many as he could. If he died in the attempt, that was fine. He'd take as many of those bastards with him as he could. If he killed them all and came out alive, Griffin would live the rest of his life killing every paladin he could find, including David's bitch of a mother!

No, Griffin wouldn't be girly or melodramatic. He wouldn't kill himself because of David. He'd kill other people because of David. Heh. See, even if Griffin killed himself because David died, he wouldn't meet David on the other side. David hadn't hurt anyone, not in his entire life. He'd stolen money and snuck into some private places. He'd run away from home, and yet David was one of the most naively innocent people Griffin had ever met. If you took away his perverted tendencies and his sometimes coarse nature, David could very possibly be God. That thought made Griffin laugh out loud. That would mean, if you stuck to tradition, that David was definitely going up.

But if Griffin died things would be different. Griffin had grown up morbid his entire life. He'd killed countless numbers of people, some in self defense, some helpless bystanders. He'd stolen more than David, but not in monetary value. Griffin cursed on a regular basis and didn't give a shit about anyone... well anyone but David. If Griffin died, he'd most surely be going down. So you see? There was no Romeo and Juliet here. Even if he died, he couldn't be with David. It was in life or not at all.

Griffin took a deep breath and vanished from the lair. He made sure not to concentrate too much on David's face. That wasn't a place and probably wouldn't work well as a destination. Then the sun broke over Griffin's face, shining all around him. Griffin cursed. Humidity. Under his black shirt and jacket, he was already baking. His tight jeans didn't help matters either, to be honest.

Now Griffin had lived in a desert, but this was Florida. On the list of places Griffin would hate to live, Florida was second only to the rainforest. Why? Humidity. The desert didn't have that kind of stuff. If the temperature was 105, it was 105. In Florida, if the temperature ever got to 105, if you added Humidity, it was probably about 110... AND muggy! That made you sweat more, that made your clothes stick to you, THAT made you boil in your normally wonderful clothes. Oh, and THAT was why Griffin was going to hurry into the shade A.S.A.P.

Griffin skittered across the pavement as fast as he could, nearly sighing as he got to the shadow cast by the factory. He took a few deep breaths and looked around. Something wasn't quite right, and he could feel it. As his eyes scanned over everything, it only made it that much more obvious. For instance, all the security cameras were pointed in the opposite direction from him. There were no security guards. There were no guard dogs. There was nothing. The wind blew and not even paper rustled.

Griffin's breathing nearly halted, his body rigid with defenses. He kept his ears peeked for any sound. Griffin pulled out a pocket knife as he walked along the wall toward the nearest door. Nothing happened, and the door had a window. They were begging to be intruded. Griffin jumped inside, never touching the door.

Had he gotten the wrong facility? No. Impossible. He couldn't have. So why weren't they trying to stop him? Griffin rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. He must be infected by David's naivety. This was obviously a trap. Why else would Roland willingly give him the information he needed to find this place?

Griffin must have been walking for a good twenty minutes. He was about to just forget it and jump to like... Africa or something before going home to wait for David - if there was anything to wait for at all - when he heard it. He froze and just listened. There it was again.

Screaming.

Short, painful screaming. He recognized the sound, fluently. That was the sound a jumper made when he was hit with a powerful electric force, only this seemed more intense. And it wasn't the sound of just any jumper, no. This was the sound Griffin knew so well because he'd been around so much when it was made - back in the early days.

This was the sound of David in pain.

Griffin jumped down the hall, no longer wanting to risk making noise with his feet, nor wanting to waste time walking. He didn't even care if cameras caught sight of him anymore. He found the room where the... noise seemed to originate from.

Griffin hesitantly put his hand on the shiny, round handle. This was most definitely a trap. Still, David let out a round of pathetic whimpers of pain, and Griffin couldn't help himself. He closed his eyes and cursed himself. Then he shoved the door open and rushed into the room.

"David?" he called. The room was dark, but not black. There was a single table in the center of the mediocre sized room. Two white chairs sat on opposing sides of the gray table. The rest of the room was empty... save for a large, wide screen, flat tv mounted on the wall behind the table.

The tv had a picture on it. It was a white room, or... more cream colored. The walls were tiled just like the floor. An operating table sat in the middle, David strapped to it. David was blindfolded and sweating like crazy. Little wires and machines were hooked all over the table and directly to David's skin. The screen was split in half. The right side showed David from a camera sitting upright off to the side. The left camera was somewhere above David in the roof looking down. Griffin stared at the screen in confusion.

"D-David?" he asked again. Then... this wasn't where David was and this was all just to lure him into this room and...

The door shut.

Griffin spun around and saw Roland standing in the corner of the room. He didn't move at first, standing like the angel of death himself. Then suddenly, dim lights came on to illuminate the room. Roland motioned to the chairs.

"Go on... sit," he said. "It's time we had a talk."

Griffin glared at him, on guard and ready to jump. Roland walked right past Griffin to the table. He never even glanced at the jumper who'd caused him so many issues. He pulled out the chair farthest from the door and sat down. This put him between Griffin and the tv.

"What kind of new bullshit is this?" Griffin barked, head motioning toward the tv.

"This is me doing an experiment," Roland replied dryly. He pulled a small square device from his pocket. It looked almost like a radio controller. Roland swivelled his chair around until he could see the screen. Then he pushed a small, black button on his control, followed by a bigger, green button.

David cried out as visible electricity ran through the devices hooked to his body. Griffin set his jaw, nice and tight. Roland glanced at Griffin and pushed another one of the buttons on his remote. The electricity dulled till it was no longer visible. It was obvious the electricity was still there, though, because David twitched every once in awhile. David's face was already turning red from the stress. Griffin's fingers curled around the knife in his hand.

"I told you... We're doing an experiment to see how much electricity it takes to kill one of you abominations," Roland drawled out.

"You're a sick bastard," Griffin spat, literally.

"Put the knife up, and take a seat," Roland ordered. Griffin was going to resist, but the hand with the remote control seemed to twitch and Griffin sat down. He stabbed his knife into the table, leaving a deep gash in it. He didn't care. He almost smirked at the thought of ruining something that belonged to this paladin. However, he couldn't even force his lip to twitch up.

Damn that Roland! He only showed Griffin what that control did so he could use David as leverage! Roland gave Griffin a calculating look, which Griffin gave right back, filled with pure anger.

"You know... I've been doing this a long time... and I've been fighting you a long time," Roland rambled as if he had all day. David let out one of his weak whimpers in the background. Griffin's attention was torn. "Never before... have I seen you act like this, trying to help someone out. Didn't you used to be alone?"

"I am alone," Griffin replied harshly. "I'm here only for myself."

"Come now. Don't lie, boy. We all know you came here for her mistake," Roland accused. Mistake? Had he just called David a _mistake_? Griffin clenched his fists in his lap. David wasn't perfect, but he was no mistake!

"Why did you bring _me _here? Ya gonna make me some kinda guinea pig as well?" Griffin asked, snide and upset as always. His eyes glanced down to the knife. In an instant, he calculated the chances of him grabbing it and thrusting it into Roland's neck before he was caught. Slim to none.

"Sort of," Roland replied. The way his voice sounded just then, low and deep and dark... It scared Griffin even more than David being tortured. Roland was staring at him with an intense and yet quizzical look. It was a look that meant he was aggravated because he was confused.

"Well sorry to burst yer bubble, buddy, but I ain't goin out tha easily. You don' have me captive like you have little Davy," Griffin bragged. Roland seemed amused.

"Oh, don't I?" he asked. His finger seemed to twitch but it must have done something, because David cried out again. Griffin couldn't help but flinch. Roland's amused look grew. "If you run away from here, I wont hesitate to send more electricity through those lines than three bolts of lightening."

"You're lyin. That would take a lot more energy than you can create in this dingy dump," Griffin called Roland out on his bluff. Roland shrugged.

"We'd bring a blackout to about half of Florida, at least, but it'd be worth it... to get rid of one of you abominations," and Roland's voice was thick with hatred. As he spoke, he pushed down on one of the buttons. David's whole body seemed to tense, and he whined. Griffin swallowed heavily. Roland was totally serious.

"So what do you plan to do with meh?" Griffin asked, deciding it best to avoid replying to Roland's threat. "If I don' escape, of course."

"That depends," Roland continued in a forced monotone. "We'd rather use you as an information source, get names and locations of other Jumpers you've met. However, I know you... You don't know any other jumpers, do you?" His voice always leaked that venom, that taunting tone, that note that he felt he was right about everything.

Griffin did his best to keep his face cold and emotionless, besides anger. Roland stared straight into his eyes. Griffin's neck tickled where his scar was, but he refused to react to the memory. He pressed his hands together in his lap, under the table.

"Except... of course, this one," Roland corrected himself, nodding back at David on the screen, mouth open and panting from pain. Griffin's knuckles cracked from the force they were being put under.

"You're a right bastard," Griffin cursed, a scowl on his face. Roland seemed to chuckle.

"On the other hand, if you have no information... well.. We'll have to resort to _my _methods again," he said as if Griffin hadn't spoken at all.

"So in otherr words, you'll kill me," Griffin clarified. Roland smirked.

"So... Do you have any useful information, _Griffin_?" Roland stressed the name. Griffin's angered features adopted some confusion. How did Roland know his name? Even before this, over all their years of fighting each other, Roland had never once tried to remember his name.

"Confused? I figured that would be your name... It's the first thing her mistake asked when he woke up. 'Griffin's not here, is he?' Stupid boy..," Roland grunted out after making fun of David. Griffin's eyes twitched to the screen. David must have been told the same thing as Griffin if that was his first question. "You jumpers are so fallible. Gullible creatures. Loners because you're not meant to live... because you're unable to love other people - the very thing that makes people _human_. You're not human... You're an _abomination_, a mistake in the system."

Griffin lowered his voice in imitation of Roland. "Only God should have the power... to judge people and damn them to death. You're nothin more than a murderer, Roland. God will see tha' when it's your turn to die."

Roland smacked the table, his hand hitting his remote. Griffin couldn't tell if it was on accident or not. David twitched violently. Griffin felt nauseous. He could jump into that room. He could. But that was probably an even bigger trap. That room was pulsating with electricity. He'd probably get there and be unable to move.

Then again, Roland didn't seem to think jumpers cared about anyone, probably not enough to jump into a possible trap to save another jumper. Then again, he'd already jumped into this one. Maybe they thought he wouldn't jump into an electrified room. It was a jumper's biggest weakness, after all.

"Why did you come here?" Roland seemed really angry right now. Griffin's eyes were pulled down to lock with the black man's. "Why did you bother coming when you knew it was a trap?"

Griffin smirked.

"Cause we're all different, mate. I came to prove you wrong," Griffin replied smugly. It was Roland's turn to look shocked. Griffin had gone from pissed to smug, and his declaration confused the paladin.

Griffin made a jump over the table and caught Roland in an uppercut. The older man's chair broke, and he fell to the floor. Griffin winked at him before quickly jumping out of there. No need to stick around and get caught. Griffin might as well have teleported into the television itself, like in scifi movies. He appeared in front of the camera that was watching David from the side.

"David!" Griffin hurried over to his fellow jumper and ripped the blindfold off. David's eyes went wide.

"Gr-Griffin? Wh...wh...What are you.. d-d-doing here?" David asked, voice messed up by the electricity. His body was constantly fading in and out.

"Rescuing you, my friend," Griffin said as though it were obvious. He had a devilish smirk on. While David stayed stunned by the news, Griffin directed his attention at one of the two main paths for the electricity.

"D-don't touch that, Griffin. It's f-full of electricity," David warned. Griffin glared at him.

"No, really?" he asked sarcastically. Griffin looked back at the conductor and rubbed his hands together. He reached out with one hand and grabbed the cable. He let out a shocked scream and fell back on the floor.

"Are you... alright?" David asked, his breath short. The sweat dripping off David's forehead and the strain evident in his neck and voice made Griffin all the more determined.

"Yeh.. Fine," Griffin grunted as he pushed himself up.

"It's useless, Griffin. Give up and leave him," Roland's voice ordered harshly over some speaker. Yelling was in the background - useless pawns of paladins being sent to stop him.

"Up yurs, Roland!" Griffin yelled back in an excited way. He flipped a bird to the camera. "No one tells me what to do!"

Griffin took a steady stance. His hands quickly grabbed onto the electric cable and held on tightly. Griffin's form flickered as the electricity surged through him as well. Still, Griffin's hands tightened around the cable and he began to pull. It didn't take much. It was just a thick cable, that's all. With a few sparking snaps, the cable broke off of the table. It sparked one last time, sending an uneven wave through David. The American jumper managed to keep his reaction down to a flinch and whimper. Still, the electricity surging through David was already visibly lower without that cable.

Griffin panted as he went to the next one. He eyed it like a dangerous snake. David's eyes followed him cautiously, shocked that Griffin would go through so much trouble for him. Griffin grabbed hold of the new cable and wrenched it apart with an angry and determined yell. David's table shook in the attempt, but no electric spike caught David this time.

"G-Griff-," David tried, but Griffin interrupted him.

"No time, Davy. Gotta get ya out of here," Griffin said, shaking his hands to get rid of the remaining sting of electricity. Griffin proceeded to easily tear off the little cords. They didn't even sting him.

"Griffin," David tried again.

"Almost done," Griffin interrupted... again. He undid David's feet first. Griffin didn't want David to ask him 'why'. He just wanted to get it over with. David could ask him why later and then Griffin could just ignore him, as usual. If they stopped to figure out the where and why, they'd both be captured.

In the background, Griffin could hear an alarm that was getting steadily louder. People were yelling. He had to hurry. Griffin pulled off one of David's hand restraints and looked to the door. Men were there. They were hurrying to unlock the door.

"Griffin," David grabbed Griffin's head and made him look right into his eyes. Then David pulled Griffin toward him, kissing him briefly. Griffin was shocked. Even after he was released, he just sort of stood there. David undid his own other hand and his waist. Griffin didn't regain proper thought until he heard David's feet hit the ground.

The door burst open. Griffin and David looked at the men who'd rushed in. David smirked and put a hand on Griffin's shoulder. Griffin was infected by the smirk. Despite his shock at being kissed, he found his body filled with too much adrenaline to stop and think about it right now.

"Sorry boys," David said in his creamy voice. Griffin flipped another bird and both Jumpers vanished.


	3. The Relationship

Warning: Some content in this chapter is unsuitable for children. lol

Chapter 3 - The Relationship

Immediately upon returning to the lair, David had collapsed half way onto Griffin. He just couldn't stand up anymore. That's when Griffin realized that the hand on his shoulder was a precaution against not having the energy to stand, or jump, on his own. Griffin quickly helped David to the bed, and the American jumper had been laying there since then. It had been five hours.

Griffin paced around the room, unable to keep himself still. He had nothing to worry about... well, besides David. They'd jumped to three well known jump spots before returning home, so there was no way the paladins could follow them. Well, unless they had several of those machines lined up and ready to go, and only if they wanted to disturb the peace. They'd picked slightly populated areas to jump to and from.

The British jumper just couldn't sit still, though. His mind was hopping. Even after five hours, he couldn't get the memory out of his head. Roland's snide comments about David being a 'mistake' and the sadistic way he upped the electricity running through David's body... Griffin could swear he heard David screaming still, whimpering in his sleep. However, when he rushed to check on David, the American was sleeping so soundlessly, he may as well have been dead. The only thing to keep Griffin believing David was alive was the continuing rise and fall of David's chest.

Griffin put in a video game and played it for about 30 minutes. It was semi violent and normally a lot of fun. Right now, though, he couldn't concentrate on it. Perhaps it was because he was keeping the volume relatively low so David could sleep... or perhaps, just maybe, possibly it was because of the confusing, random, unprovoked, impossible kiss David had given him before they'd escaped!

Griffin must have imagined it, or maybe it was a thing in America - to kiss people when you were in their debt. After all, Griffin had just saved David's life.. That was some debt, right? Griffin had seen girls do it sometimes, but never guys... Then again, David didn't stay around in one area for too long to find out exactly how 'normal' people interacted. Maybe they did things like that where David was from... maybe not. He'd never know unless he asked someone, but he was pretty sure the answer was no.

So then why the bloody frickin hell had David done it?!

"Wake up, you bastard," Griffin grumbled under his breath as he paced back and forth in the 'doorway' to the 'bedroom'. It wasn't really a bedroom and therefore it wasn't really a doorway. It was like a hole in the wall that happened to have a bed... Okay, like a long closet.

"You can' sleep fur the rest of your life, Davy," Griffin scolded, leaning in the doorway.

David's chest just changed in height. His lips stayed in that partially opened position they'd been in for about the last hour. His right hand was resting on his chest while his left laid out beside him in a haphazard manner. Griffin took to admiring David's chest. David wore a tight gray, sleeveless shirt above his ordinary jeans. Griffin suspected they used to be designer, as David had a pretty pricey taste in clothes, but now they had a hole near David's ankle and were in need of more than just one good washing... if those stains would come out at all.

As David's chest rose and fell in time with his breathing, Griffin admired the fine tuning of the American's toned abs. David certainly hadn't let being able to jump instead of walk like a normal person effect his health. He obviously had some kind of gym membership or something. How else had he kept this body while being as lazy as he was?

"Idiot," Griffin scoffed. If David could hear him, it would sound like Griffin was scolding him... but Griffin was actually scolding himself. "Getting all worked up over nothing... should have just walked away," Griffin continued under his breath. He turned and walked away from the 'room'.

Griffin went to his small kitchen-esque area to grab a bit to eat. He realized now that he hadn't eaten anything in almost a whole day. If he kept it up, he'd get a serious scolding from David that would end up giving him a headache for a week. Griffin scoffed again. Again, he was doing this because of David. The British jumper pulled out a bag of chips from a small cabinet. He sniffed and wrinkled his nose as he stared at what was left inside the cabinet. Empty. Okay. He'd go steal -... He'd ask David to please go buy him some more food.

On that note, Griffin thought as he opened the chips and began to nibble away, why did David care if Griffin stole some food? David stole all the money that bought the groceries anyway, so what was the difference? It was all stolen in the end, wasn't it?

Griffin groaned. He was just trying to distract himself by picking at any subject that passed through his brain. Dammit! He glanced back at David, and his hand paused halfway into the bag. Were David's eyes open?

He hurried over to the doorway again and saw David was indeed staring up at the ceiling, his chest still rising and falling in the same pattern as before. Then David's chest rose and stilled for a moment. David let out a long breath and closed his eyes again.

"David?" Griffin tested. David's eyes snapped open, and he jumped up to a sitting position.

"Gr-Griffin!" David gasped. Had he not expected Griffin to be here or something? Where had he thought he was?

"Yeah," Griffin replied snidely. "'Griffin'. Who did ya expect, David? Santa?" Griffin felt his eyes narrow into a glare. David so deserved it.

"Sorry," David apologized. He shifted his weight on the bed to better face Griffin. "How long have I been out?"

"A week," Griffin replied with a disappearing scowl. David's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"A week?!" he squeaked out. Griffin's face broke into a grin. That was a funny noise.

"Nah. Six hours, tops," he admitted with a triumphant smirk. David's face dropped into relaxation and then he scowled.

"That wasn't funny, Griffin," he said. Was he... pouting?

"Yeh it was. Ya shoulda seen yer face," Griffin replied, that smug look still on his face while he ate another chip. David was silent for a moment. Griffin watched as David looked away from Griffin's face and down to his hands. David was looking at the chips. Now if Griffin knew David, then...

"Griffin... You haven't been eating properly have you? You're going to get sic-," David started to complain but was cut short when the bag of chips flew into his face. "Hey!" he complained.

"Don't be so damn predictable!" Griffin yelled in what sounded like an annoyed voice, but actually, he wasn't sure _what _he was feeling about being able to predict how David would respond to things.

"God. Sorry. Didn't have to hit me in the face for it," David grumbled, moving the bag. Most of the chips had flown out upon impact so there wasn't much to save. They'd clean up the chips later or something.

Griffin left the room and grabbed a bottle of water. He always had plenty of those. He could hear David following him but paid him no serious mind. Griffin took as many gulps of water as he could without drowning in the bottle. That would be embarrassing - death by water bottle drowning - especially after everything he'd been through.

"Hey, Griffin?" David called from a spot about 5 feet to his left and behind him.

"What?" Griffin called back, setting the bottle down. It was finally time to talk about it all, wasn't it? They were both safe now so David would ask him about why he did it all and then they'd talk about the kiss, or whatever it was, and then they'd probably stand in an awkward silence for several moments before they decided to part ways for good this time.

"I had a lot of time to think while I was being held captive," David began. Wait, he wasn't starting out with the interrogation?

"David, ya had thousands of volts of electricity through yer veins. Wha could you hav been thinkin about?" Griffin scoffed. He turned to face David and leaned against the nearest sturdy object.

"Just let me finish, Griff... During my thinking I decided something," David said. He stepped closer to Griffin, who couldn't back away because he was already leaning back against something. "Griffin, I don't want you throwing yourself off buildings anymore."

"W-wha'?" Griffin asked, confused and nervous. David was only about 3 feet away now. That was hardly anything at all.

"What I mean is... you're always jumping head first into dangerous situations when you don't really need to. What I realized through all this is well... I don't want you to die, Griffin," David finished, hesitating with his foot another half step closer to Griffin. Then he pulled his foot back to it's previous position. "Well?... What about you?"

"What abou' me?" Griffin asked, hopefully looking composed and calm. David seemed to smirk at him so he must be failing.

"You jumped into a paladin fortress, literally, and rescued me... Did you even touch one of the paladins? Or were you so fixated on getting me out that you forgot about them?" Was David asking him or accusing him?

"Well, uh...," Griffin couldn't think how to respond.

"See?" and David's smile was serene. "Does that mean... you don't want me to die, Griffin? You still want me around?"

Griffin grit his teeth together and pushed off from his support. Now he and David were only about a foot apart. Griffin leaned in toward David with a slightly peeved expression. Their noses got within three inches, and then Griffin pulled away. He walked 6 feet to the right and stopped.

"Don' get me wrong, Davy," he said. "Bein' friends with you gets me food and stuff. It's not as if I actually like ya or anythin'."

"Friends?" David pointed out, seeming pleased. Griffin mentally cursed at himself.

"And?"

"Griffin...," David began. He paused long enough for Griffin to take notice. The English jumper looked back at David. David seemed to be thinking while he bore his eyes straight into Griffin's soul. David's eyes were intense, his expression no longer happy. What was he thinking about?

"You... alright, Davy?" Griffin asked hesitantly. He took a slow step back toward David. Then David sighed, which surprised Griffin, but he refused to show his shock.

"Do you remember... what I did back at the paladin base? You know, just before we left," David asked. Griffin's face flushed, but he was sure David wouldn't notice in the poor lighting of the lair.

"Ya put your hand on mah shoulder?" Griffin guessed, acting like he didn't know.

"Griffin, please don't play dumb!" David said forcefully. "We both know you're not that dumb, so please just... just help me out here and answer the questions truthfully, alright?"

Griffin couldn't remember David ever looking so fiercely determined, so all he could do was nod. David's mouth moved, repeating the question. Griffin couldn't find his voice. His throat felt like it was full of cotton, so he figured David would just have to settle for another nod. His heart raced. Griffin's mind had to catch up with his racing emotions just to figure out why he was feeling them. He was anxious and nervous, but also excited. As his mind thought it over, Griffin realized that David could be... He could be saying he felt the same way for Griffin that Griffin felt for David. That is to say, David loved him back.

Then again, this could be David trying to tell Griffin that the kiss had been a mistake, something he'd done in the heat of the moment and meant nothing. Yes. That idea caused Griffin stress and unease. He wasn't sure which answer he'd prefer in the long run. If David didn't like him, they could go back to a semi normal life until the strain of these events drove them apart... or perhaps David would avoid him to begin with - until he had a problem, of course. If David DID like him, Griffin would probably push him away in the end. A relationship would never do in their kind of lifestyle. They should both know that...

Right?

"Griffin, I want you to know I meant it entirely... but I understand if you didn't like it. I'll get you three pizza's and a tub of ice cream to make it up to you, and then I'll stop forcing myself on you here at the lair. I'll never mention it again, I just... well I just wanted you to know... to get it out there in the open, ya know?" David explained.

Griffin nodded slowly. His eyebrows knitted together and he appeared to be giving David a once over. Then he nodded again.

"Yeh... Lots of pizza... not sure abou the ice cream though," Griffin murmured to himself. David was torn between a smile for the ice cream comment and a frown at being rejected.

"Right then. I'll get them as soon as possible. Sorry, again," David replied, trying to sound normal but unable to hide the slightly higher tone to his voice that showed his sadness.

David turned to return to his bed and rest. No, he'd have to clean up the chips first. Either way, he returned to his 'room' for the time being and began to busy himself. Griffin followed a moment later and retook his place on the doorframe.

"David," Griffin spoke.

"Yeah?" David replied, turning slightly toward the source of his grief.

"I jus thought ya'd like to know... I've been wantin' to do it again...properly, this time," Griffin said. David didn't seem to be breathing. Griffin watched as the American he'd stressed over for days rose to his feet.

"You-," David tried, but Griffin interrupted him.

"Stop there, Davy. I know what yer thinkin, and it won' work out. The life of a jumper is too sporadic and dangerous to have a relationship in. So even though weh both obviously like each other more than weh should, we're not gonna do anythin about it... understand?" Griffin explained, making direct eye contact with David to make sure his point was received.

David stared back at Griffin, his lips pressed together. He was trying to pull something out of Griffin's expression, but Griffin wouldn't let him in. He couldn't afford to let David in, he told himself. He didn't want to set himself up to falling even more in love with David, only to be torn into pieces when David was taken from him.

"But, Griffin-," David tried again. Griffin shook his head, effectively shutting David up again.

"No, David. I... No matteh wha' you may think... I can' do it. I'm sorry," he said and quickly left the room. Griffin couldn't even continue the conversation. He feared that if he kept standing there, looking into David's torn features and listening to David try to convince him otherwise, that he might lose his nerve and give in. He couldn't, dammit.

David unconsciously brushed the chips off the bed as he stared at the doorway. He could hear Griffin sitting down in front of the tv. He hadn't turned the tv on yet, but that's the only other place with a real chair. In the silence of the lair, David even heard Griffin snort as if to laugh at a ridiculous idea before the tv clicked on. The noise that filled the lair told him that Griffin was setting up to play one of his 6 fighting games. He hadn't learned which was which yet.

David stood up and went to the doorway. He looked over where he could see the back of Griffin's head. He sighed. Griffin was such an idiot. There was no law that said a jumper couldn't have a relationship. The only thing standing between Griffin and David having a relationship was Griffin's own damn insecurities.

David walked over to the tv and sat down to the side of it, staring at Griffin, much as he had so long ago when he'd first met Griffin. Griffin didn't even glance at him. He set his entire focus on the tv behind David. The American jumper wouldn't be so easily ignored though. He leaned toward Griffin, propping himself up with his arms on his knees, and stared right into Griffin's eyes - though Griffin wasn't looking at him.

"Kiss me, Griffin," David ordered gently. David saw the way Griffin's eyes widened just a millimeter more, the way his fingers became stiff on the controls, and he heard the game react behind him with a yell when someone's character died. Finally, after a minute of only hearing the music of the game, Griffin spoke, still not looking at David but not looking at the game really either.

"Why?" he asked. David smiled a little.

"Because I asked you to... Just one kiss, Griffin. You said it yourself. You've been wanting a proper kiss too. Just give me one kiss, and I wont push the subject anymore. We'll leave it at just this one kiss until the day you've killed all the paladins, and we can start a relationship, alright?" David asked. This time, Griffin looked at him.

Griffin had a conflicted look in his eyes. He couldn't figure out if it was safe to trust himself to leave it at just one kiss. He stared at David's innocent, honest face and couldn't help the way his gaze drifted from those bright, eager eyes to those soft, tempting lips. David's lips curled up a bit in a bigger smile. Griffin shut his eyes and grimaced. That was it. Watching those lips and then they moved just to taunt him. Griffin groaned. David frowned a little. What was wrong?

The Griffin opened his eyes and dropped his controller. He was out of his seat and kissing David almost before the other even knew Griffin had moved. But David had just enough time to process what was going to happen and met Griffin's lips hungrily. His arms instantly snapped around to hold Griffin. Griffin had one knee on the small wooden table David was sitting on, leaning forward into the kiss. After only a second or so, he dropped down and found himself sitting on David's lap.

David put his hand up behind Griffin's head and pulled him closer. Griffin pushed against David, causing them both to lean back. Griffin mentally cursed himself. He knew this was a bad idea. He couldn't stop pushing against David until they were so close you couldn't fit a paper between their chests. David was almost laying with his back against the table. There was a snap and then the table cracked in two, sending them both to the floor. They momentarily stopped kissing, long enough for David to groan and Griffin to fix his position a little.

"Guh, the table," David grunted out.

"Fuck the table," Griffin growled out, forcing their lips together again.

Griffin could feel David's smile in between their kisses. He felt David's tongue slide across his lips. However, when he opened his mouth, he didn't let David's tongue inside. He forced David's lips open and thrust his tongue inside of the American's mouth instead. Then David shoved back against Griffin, sitting them both up. David seemed determined to be on top. He kept pushing until Griffin fell back onto his butt, his back pressed against his chair.

David ran his hands through Griffin's hair, pulling on the strands till Griffin groaned out in the slight pain. Griffin growled into the kisses, pushing to regain control of the situation, if he'd ever been in control to begin with. He was running on instinct alone now.

Griffin pushed on David's shoulders. As much as he wanted to tell himself he was doing that to push David away, he knew that was a lie. He was pushing David's shirt up. One of his hands moved down to David's stomach and dragged along the skin for a second before it snatched the end of the shirt and ripped it upward. Their lips broke from the kisses while David helped to pull his shirt off. Griffin didn't have time to stare at David's chest, because David's mouth was on his neck.

He moaned.

David liked that noise. He trailed kisses and nips along Griffin's collarbone while Griffin dug his fingers into David's back. David traced Griffin's scar with his tongue, eliciting a shiver from the smaller jumper. Griffin brought his hands back around to David's chest, reveling in the rising warmth of David's skin, and shoved back until David fell backwards. David curved a little though, and they missed the broken table by inches.

Griffin kissed David roughly. He was sure their lips would bruise from the treatment. Griffin kissed down David's jaw and then jumped to his chest, kissing to the American's nipples. He stopped just before his lips touched one, letting only his breath wash over it. He was surprised to hear the gasp that left David's lips. His eyes glanced up to David's face, flushed and his mouth hanging open. Then he let out a long breath, blowing it directly onto David's nipple. He saw the shiver run through David's chest, heard the sharp intake of breath, and noticed the way David's nipples - even the one he wasn't bothering - grew harder.

"Mmm... Naughty naughty, Davy," he teased.

"You're one to talk," David replied with a mildly annoyed tone.

"Well this is all yer faul' anyway. I told ya I didn' wan' to kiss ya," Griffin scolded. David pushed up and flipped them till he was pinning Griffin beneath him. He leaned down to Griffin's ear.

"No you didn't," he murmured tauntingly. David held one of Griffin's wrists above his head and let his free hand drag across Griffin's chest, through his shirt. David's fingers flitted over Griffin's stomach, which surprisingly caused the smaller one to have trouble breathing properly. David did it again, and Griffin gave a disjointed growl of annoyance in reply.

"Stop doin tha'," Griffin ordered roughly, with what air he still had. As soon as David's fingers stopped teasing his stomach, Griffin regained his breath. David smiled.

"I'm sorry," he said, though Griffin could tell he wasn't sorry at all.

David's fingers found one of Griffin's nipples through the shirt, which had become easier to do since Griffin's stomach seemed to be one of his erogenous zones. David teased the nipple through the fabric until he had Griffin panting and struggling not to moan. He could tell whenever Griffin stopped himself from making noise because he would suddenly stop breathing altogether for several seconds.

David leaned his head down and kissed the hardened nipple, feeling the threads of black cotton against his lips. Griffin's eyes were squeezed shut, his bottom lip held shut with his teeth, but not too tightly. David pushed Griffin's shirt up to his neck but didn't remove it. He set his mouth over Griffin's other nipple and teased it with his tongue until it was even harder than the other one. Griffin let out a whine. He didn't like being submissive.

Griffin was so distracted by the mouth on his chest that he didn't know anything else was going on until he felt David's hand force its way into his suddenly unzipped jeans and under his underwear.

"Ah- David!" Griffin bit out, ripping his hand out from under David's and pushing the larger male off. David grunted as he hit one of the sides of the table.

"What's wrong?" David asked. "Was that a bit too much?" Griffin was panting as he pushed himself to his feet. He leaned on the nearest wall, not looking at David.

"David, I said I can'," Griffin finally spoke. "I...I can'."

David stood up as well and wrapped his arms loosely around Griffin. If he pulled Griffin too tightly against him, Griffin would feel his need, his desire, his want to ignore Griffin's wishes and just ravage him senselessly. David felt Griffin tense in his grasp even though he couldn't feel all those emotions radiating off David.

"I'm sorry... My bad," David murmured. He wanted Griffin to blame him for what had happened. As it was, he could tell Griffin was going to blame himself and add it to the wall that kept him apart from other people. David didn't want to give Griffin more worries. He wanted Griffin to be free from those stupid boundaries.

Griffin sighed and leaned his head back unconsciously onto David's shoulder. He took in a ragged breath of air.

"Sorry, Davy... but I need a moment," he laughed at some idea he found ironic.

David nodded, but didn't leave. He knew Griffin wanted to be alone, but he wouldn't go. Instead, David reached around Griffin and grabbed the British man's erection. Griffin took in a sharp breath and growled warning-ly, but David didn't let go. He began to stroke Griffin up and down. Griffin tensed. One hand snapped onto David's wrist but didn't hinder what was happening. The other flew back and grabbed David's upper leg.

"D-David," he panted, an air of defiance in his voice. David nodded.

"I know, Griffin. Next time, you'll be on top, I promise," he murmured into Griffin's ear. Perhaps it was the idea that this would happen again and he'd be the one in charge that gave Griffin a shock, or it was the way David's hand tightened around him. Still, something caused Griffin to spasm for a moment before moans and panting overtook him.

David almost couldn't contain himself, but he did. It took all his self control, but he did. He held a little tighter to Griffin around the waist as he felt the other tense. Then Griffin whimpered in a very un-Griffin way and it was over. David could tell by the way Griffin went weak against him, leaning heavily on him. Griffin mumbled out 'D-David,' even though he was sure he'd only thought it. Hearing it come from Griffin's lips made David smile. His body ached with want.

As soon as Griffin stood back up straight on his own, David laughed. Griffin gave him a funny look.

"Wha?" he asked. His eyes accused David of laughing at him.

"No, no, Griffin. I'm not laughing at you. It's hard to explain, so I wont try. Hey, I'm gonna go get those pizzas, okay?" David said, walking to his jacket, which was still over the back of the chair where Griffin had left it. He lifted his shirt off the ground as well. As he pulled his clothes on, he heard Griffin talk.

"Ya don't hav to, ya know," Griffin spoke with annoyance. David was doing this just to dote on him, and it suddenly made Griffin feel like a girl.

"No, Griffin, I really do," David replied. He smiled at Griffin before vanishing. Griffin almost grumbled that no, he didn't, but he'd caught a brief glimpse of David's pants and suddenly understood.

Then Griffin grit his teeth together and blushed.

"Well why the bloody hell couldn' I fix tha? Huh!? Ya did it to me!... Blimey bastard," he grumbled. Griffin trudged off to the bedroom to find one of his four pairs of jeans to replace these ruined ones. When David got back, he better have some damn good pizza, or Griffin was gonna kick his ass.

The End


End file.
